Producer Files Lawsuit over Sherman Hemsley’s ‘Amen’

Ed Weinberger, the creator of the 1980s sitcom “Amen” starring Sherman Hemsley, has sued his former business managers claiming they failed to account for what he was owed after he sued the show’s producer, Carson Productions, in 2011.

Weinberger claims he’s been a writer and executive producer of “legendary network series,” including “The Tonight Show,” “The Cosby Show,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and “Taxi.” Weinberger claims he struck a deal with Carson Productions in 1989, for fixed and contingent payments for his work on “Amen,” which ran for five seasons, from 1986 to 1991.

William Broder, Weinberger’s business manager from 1991-2004, was “aware that Weinberger had received advances against his right to receive contingent compensation and, as time went on, those advances were being recouped by money earned from the exploitation of ‘Amen,’” the complaint states.

Weinberger claims that by 1998 the accountant knew he was owed $1.4 million for “Amen.” But Broder stopped accounting for the money Weinberger was owed, then told him it could no longer manage his finances because he wasn’t earning enough, according to the complaint.

Weinberger’s next manager, Myers & Associates, also failed to keep tabs on “Amen,” the complaint states.

Weinberger says that before he sued Carson Productions in 2011, he was unaware that he had recouped his advances and was entitled to contingent compensation. “Weinberger discovered through the course of the litigation that his advances were recouped sometime in the years 2000-2001,” the lawsuit states.

It adds that Carson Productions refused to pay the writer for roughly six years worth of contingent compensation, on the grounds that his claims were barred by the statute of limitations. Those six years were from 2000-2006, Weinberger says, when he was represented by Broder and then by Myers.

Weinberger seeks damages and punitive damages for professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, professional negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty.